Disciple of the Nine Swords

Written by Martin K.

I am Harran Turiyeshor, the swordsage sometimes called the Iron Dragon. It was I who defeated the High Inquisitor of Tiamat in the Dragonskull Temple. It was I who slew the demon Varrash-Kral in the Ebon Tower. And it was my comrades and I who excised the mind flayer infestation from Darkvale three years ago, though two of my friends died horribly in the process.

I have wandered the world for twenty years, studying the Sublime Way and searching for my own true measure as a warrior and as a person. I like to think that I am a little wiser now than when I started, but I must leave that judgment to others. I spend my days teaching now, that I may honor the path I have followed my whole life.

Some of my students fall from the Way and turn to other pursuits. Some become champions of good and justice. Others use my teachings to wreak terrible wrongs in the world. But all who seek the Way must be taught, because it is not for the swordsmith to say whether his blades will spill the blood of the wicked or the innocent. Like all knowledge, the Sublime Way can be used for good or ill.

The Disciple of the Nine Swords, or Sword Disciple for short is a 13th Age version of the Crusader, Swordsage and Warblade classes from the groundbreaking Tome of Battle - Book of Nine Swords.

Version: 1.11, 9 Nov 2014; ready for playtest

Building a Disciple of the Nine Swords

Play style

The Book of Nine Swords was published in during the late third-edition era and provided a new take on the Fighter and Paladin classes. It pioneered martial maneuvers, melee attacks with special effects that were different from spells. It brought new concepts like encounter powers, and what would become the Warlord in the next edition.

From pure game mechanics, the Core Book Rogue is the closest, as you don't have the randomness of the Fighter's flexible maneuvers. As with the original Tome of Battle classes, your maneuvers are once per battle, though, and you have a special mechanic to regain them.

Subclasses

The Book of Nine Swords offers three distinct classes: The Crusader, the Swordsage and the Warblade.

Crusader

Devoted knight, divine agent, instrument of vengeance, peerless fighting machine—the crusader is a warrior dedicated to good, evil, law, chaos, or some other cause. She seeks out and destroys the enemies of her chosen faith. Strengthened by prayer or absolute devotion to a principle, armored by unshakable faith, and driven by her convictions, a good crusader is a mighty weapon against injustice and malice. An evil crusader, on the other hand, is a cruel and fearsome warrior of darkness.

Preferred Disciplines: Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, and White Raven

Swordsage

A master of martial maneuvers, the swordsage is a physical adept—a blade wizard whose knowledge of the Sublime Way lets him unlock potent abilities, many of which are overtly supernatural or magical in nature. Depending on which disciplines he chooses to study, a swordsage might be capable of walking through walls, leaping dozens of feet into the air, shattering boulders with a single touch, or even mastering the elements of fire or shadow. Whatever his specific training, a swordsage blurs the line between martial prowess and magical skill.

Warblade

The warblade was born for conflict. Swift, strong, enduring, and utterly confident in his martial skills, he seeks to test himself against worthy foes. Battle is beautiful to him—a perfect moment in which life hangs suspended on the bright edge of a sword. Sheer combat skill is important to a warblade, so he trains intensely with his chosen weapons. But even more important are his athleticism, endurance, daring, recklessness, and joy in the hour of danger. Warblades, often called sword princes, live for the chance to test themselves in battle—the stronger the foe, the greater the glory once an enemy is defeated.

Backgrounds

Icons

Masters of Nine can be found among the followers of any Icon. The Gold Wyrm and the Crusader attract the students of the Devoted Spirit and White Raven. Adepts of the Shadow Hand are loyal to the Shadow Prince as their patron - some even claim that he is a master of the technique himself, or even its inventor. Iron Heart and Stone Dragon match the traditional fighting styles of dwarves, and thus have many followers among the race and the Dwarf King. Desert Wind students often seek the support of the Red Dragon to gain strength in fire magic.

Gear

Armor

Masters of Nine prefer light armors as they give them the maneuverability required to exercise the more flashy maneuvers. Masters who choose the path of the Crusader, however, regularly train in heavy armors and bring them to the battlefield.

Disciple Armor and AC

Type

Base AC

Attack Penalty

None

10

-

Light

13

-

Heavy

15

-2 (*)

Shield

+1

-

(*) No penalty if you choose the Crusader subclass.

Weapons

While the classic weapon that most maneuvers are taught in is the one-handed sword, masters of each discipline have adapted it to their personally preferred weapon. See the individual discipline descriptions for details. Many masters take pride in their ability to use almost any weapon they can get their hands on, and they often use exotic weapons to surprise their enemies. In 13th Age, you are free to describe the weapon your character wields as you like. The table below is just a guidance.

Sword Disciple Melee Weapons

Size

One-Handed

Two-Handed

Small

1d4 knife

1d6 staff

Light or Simple

1d6 short sword

1d8 spear

Heavy or Martial

1d8 longsword, scimitar

1d10 greatsword

Sword Disciple Ranged Weapons

Size

Thrown

Crossbow

Bow

Small

1d4 dagger

1d4 hand crossbow

Light or Simple

1d6 javelin, axe

1d6 light crossbow

1d6 shortbow

Heavy

-

1d8 heavy crossbow

1d8 longbow

Basic Attacks

Melee Attack

At-Will

Target: One enemy

Attack: Strength (*) + Level vs. AC

Hit: Weapon + Strength (*) damage

Miss: Damage equal to your level

(*) As a Swordsage, you can switch out Strength for Dexterity.

Ranged Attack

At-Will

Target: One enemy

Attack: Dexterity + Level vs. AC

Hit: Weapon + Dexterity damage

Miss: Damage equal to your level

Disciple of the Nine Swords Level Level Progression

Sword Disciple Level

Total Hit Points

Total Feats

Talents

Readied Maneuvers

Maximum Maneuver Level

Subclass feature

Level-up Ability Bonuses

Damage Bonus from Ability Score

Level 1Multi-class

(Avg. of both classes) x 3

1 adventurer

1 or 2(of 3)

D+1*

1st

I

Not affected

ability modifier

Level 1

(8 + CON mod) x 3

1 adventurer

3

D* + 2

1st

I

ability modifier

Level 2

(8 + CON mod) x 4

2 adventurer

3

D + 3

1st

-

ability modifier

Level 3

(8 + CON mod) x 5

3 adventurer

3

D + 3

3rd

-

ability modifier

Level 4

(8 + CON mod) x 6

4 adventurer

3

D + 3

3rd

II

+1 to 3 abilities

ability modifier

Level 5

(8 + CON mod) x 8

4 adventurer1 champion

4

D + 3

5th

-

2 x ability modifier

Level 6

(8 + CON mod) x 10

4 adventurer2 champion

4

D + 4

5th

-

2 x ability modifier

Level 7

(8 + CON mod) x 12

4 adventurer3 champion

4

D + 4

7th

-

+1 to 3 abilities

2 x ability modifier

Level 8

(8 + CON mod) x 16

4 adventurer3 champion1 epic

5

D + 4

7th

-

3 x ability modifier

Level 9

(8 + CON mod) x 20

4 adventurer3 champion2 epic

5

D + 4

9th

-

3 x ability modifier

Level 10

(8 + CON mod) x 24

4 adventurer3 champion3 epic

5

D + 4

9th

III

+1 to 3 abilities

3 x ability modifier

D* - Gain one bonus talent from your chosen discipline talent if you are an Initiate, or two as an Adept.

Warblade

(II) Tough as Iron (4th level): Once per battle, rally as a quick action.

(III) Dual Stance (10th level): For one battle per day, you can have two stances active simultaneously. When you use a quick action to initiate or change your stance, you can initiate or change one or both stances.

Maneuvers

At each full heal-up, choose the maneuvers you wish to ready for the day. You can ready one maneuver from each discipline that you have unlocked by spending a talent. You can ready two additional maneuvers which you can choose freely from your unlocked disciplines. This increases to three maneuvers at level 2 and four at level 6. You can ready each maneuver only once. For other talents than the nine discipline talents, refer to their description. Some grant additional readied maneuvers, some access to more disciplines, some even powers of other classes.

During combat, declare that you are using a readied maneuver, then take the action listed in the description. There are four types of maneuvers: strikes, charges, boost, counter and stance. Stances are at-will - you can switch between them with a quick action, and they are always available as long as you have them readied for the day.

The other types - strike, charge, boost and counter - are once-per-battle maneuvers. Once you have used them, they are expended, but there are two ways to regain them. One is a quick rest between battles. The other is your Rally of the Ninefold Way class feature below. When you use the rally action, you also regain all per-battle maneuvers you have exspended so far in the battle.

Strike

Strike maneuvers are standard action melee attacks, and the target is one enemy you are engaged with. There are a few exceptions to this, which is stated in the maneuver's description.

Most strikes are potent damage dealers, make sure to pick up a good selection.

Charge

Charge attacks are a subtype of strike. If you have an ability that applies to strikes, it also applies to charges.

When you use a charge maneuver, you gain a free move action which you must use to engage your target, as charges are also melee attacks. As with any move action, moving away from enemies you are engaged with provokes an opportunity attack, and you can be intercepted. Make sure you are free (not engaged) when executing a charge to avoid this.

A properly executed charge requires you to be mobile and catch enemies unprepared. You can use a charge maneuver against an enemy that you were engaged with at the start of your turn, but you lose the escalation die bonus to the attack roll.

Charges are a great opening move, as they allow you to dash into melee without delay.

Boost

Boosts are once per battle enhancement maneuvers. Unless otherwise noted, boosts are quick actions that give you a bonus for the current turn.

Boosts are similar to stances in that they improve strikes and other maneuvers, but where stances help you for the entire combat, boosts are a one-off. Choose your strikes and stances first, then add a boost with the right synergy, for when you need that extra push.

Counter

Counters are once per battle maneuvers that take an interrupt action or a free action to use. In both cases, the trigger entry defines when you can use the maneuver. In many cases, this will be on an enemy's turn. Remember that you can only use one interrupt per round.

Counters are the most complex to use, as you need to keep following the action to jump at the opportunity when the trigger condition comes up.

Stance

Stances are a special type of maneuvers marked with the stance keyword. You activate a stance as a quick action, and its bonus lasts until you switch to a different stance, until the end of the encounter, or until you fall unconscious. You can only have one stance active at a time. Unlike your other maneuvers, your stances are at-will. You can use a swift action to switch between your readied stances as often as you like. You can also use them outside of combat.

At first level, the number of maneuvers you can ready is limited, so it is a good idea to pick only one stance and activate it as soon as possible after you enter combat. At higher levels, you may want to branch out and ready two or three stances to gain some tactical flexibility.

Rally of the Ninefold Way

When you use the rally action (standard action, see Core Book p. 166) and you spend a recovery to heal as usual, you also regain all readied once-per-battle maneuvers (strikes, charges, boosts and counters) that you have spent this battle. If you want to regain maneuvers, you have to spend the recovery even if you are at full hit points.

If you can't or do not want to rally, you can use a standard action to regain one maneuver instead. If you have a talent that lets you choose a power from a different class in exchange for a maneuver, that power is not regained by rally.

Discipline Talents

Desert Wind

Speed and mobility are the hallmarks of the Desert Wind discipline. Desert Wind maneuvers often involve blinding flurries of blows, quick charges, and agile footwork. Some maneuvers from this school, however, draw power from the supernatural essence of the desert and allow an adept practitioner to scour his foes with fire.

Desert Wind maneuvers focus on quick movement and swirling, flaming strikes. The scimitar, light mace, light pick, spear, and falchion are the preferred weapons of the Desert Wind discipline. The complex spinning and slashing of the curved blade incorporated into many Desert Wind maneuvers are in fact carefully honed gestures that evoke the power of fire, if performed correctly and with the proper focus.

Associated Icons: Many Desert Wind maneuvers are styled like a dragon breathing fire, which is not surprising as many of its students idolize the Red Dragon. Rumors persist of a lost elven tribe that rides the winds of the Red Wastes, who draw their power over fire from the nearby Abyss through a connection with an elven Diabolist of a past age.

Adventurer feat:Burning Sand. When you are in a Desert Wind stance and make a disengage check, the target enemy takes fire damage equal to your Dexterity or Wisdom. Double the damage at 5th level, triple it at 8th.

Champion feat: Desert Night and Desert Storm. When you use a Desert Wind ability or maneuver, you can change all fire damage to lightning or cold damage.

Epic feat: Defensive Step. When you are in a Desert Wind stance and make a disengage check, you gain a +1 bonus to defenses until the end of your next turn. Multiple instances of this bonus do not stack.

1st Level Maneuvers

Blistering Flourish

Your weapon bursts into flames as you twirl it over your head. With a flourish, you cause the fire to explode with a blinding flash.

Burning Blade (Searing Blade / Inferno Blade)

Your blade bursts into flame as it sweeps toward your foe in an elegant arc. A subtle yet precise twisting of your blade unlocks the power of flame. When you initiate this maneuver, fire trails from your melee weapon.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: Until the end of your turn, if you hit with a melee attack, you deal 1d6 extra fire damage.

Distracting Ember

A wave of heat sweeps over the area, forms a small dust funnel, and ignites into flame next to your foe. This boost allows you to conjure a Small fire elemental.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: Until the end of your turn, a small fire elemental distracts the enemies you are engaged with, which grants you a +2 bonus to melee attacks against them.

Adventurer feat: The effect lasts until the end of your next turn, and allies can also benefit from the bonus.

Flame's Blessing

Fire is not your enemy, and it does not harm you.

Stance; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: You gain resist fire 10+. Add your level to that number, up to a maximum of 18+.

Epic feat: Instead of half damage, you take no damage when the resistance triggers.

Hatchling's Flame (Dragon's Flame / Wyrm's Flame)

With a defiant roar, you summon your ki and unleash it, igniting it with a combination of your meditative focus and seething fury. As a master of the Desert Wind advances in his studies, he learns to stoke raging fires with his ki. This maneuver allows you to generate a gout of fire similar to a dragon’s burning breath.

Wind Stride

A warm breeze swirls about you as you move speedily away. The desert wind envelops you and carries you across the battlefield, giving you a burst of speed to move around and through your enemies.

Boost; Move action; Once per battle

Effect: Engage a far away enemy.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Burning Brand

Your weapon transforms into a roaring gout of flame. As you swing your burning blade, it stretches out beyond your normal reach to scorch your foes. When you initiate this maneuver, your weapon turns into a burning brand for the rest of your turn.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: Until the end of your turn, you can attack nearby enemies with melee attacks without engaging them, and all damage you deal is fire damage.

Death Mark

As your weapon strikes your foe, his body convulses as waves of flame run down your blade into his body. The fire causes him to briefly glow with a brilliant internal fire before the flames erupt from his body in a terrible explosion. When you use the strike, you channel overwhelming fiery energy into the body of your foe. In addition to dealing normal melee damage with your attack, you cause fire to erupt from your enemy’s body in a spread.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. Make a secondary attack.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Secondary Target: A different nearby enemy. If the original target was a large creature, deal damage to two secondary targets; if it was huge, to three.

Fan the Flames

Flickering flame dances across your blade, then springs toward your target as you sweep your sword through the air. A skilled Desert Wind adept can gather flame within his weapon and hurl it through the air. When you initiate this maneuver, you launch a fist-sized ball of white-hot fire at a single opponent.

Flashing Sun

Almost a blur of acceleration, your shining blade flashes as you attack with impossible speed.

Strike; Melee Attack; Once per battle

Target: 2 enemies you are engaged with; or two attacks against the same target.

Attack: Strength + level - 2 vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Epic feat: Make both attacks without the attack penalty.

Holocaust Cloak

Fire trails from your blade as you spin it about, cloaking you in flames that leap out to burn those who attack you. The flame from your weapon hangs in midair, providing you with a fiery defense against your attackers.

Stance; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: If you are hit with a melee attack, deal 5 fire damage to the attacker.

Zephyr Dance

You spin gracefully away from a foe’s attack, whirling like the desert zephyr racing across the sands. Your enemy’s blade barely touches your cloak as you nimbly dodge aside.

Counter; Interrupt Action; Once per battle

Trigger: You are hit by an attack against your AC.

Effect: You gain a +4 bonus to AC against the attack.

5th Level Maneuvers

Firesnake

You drive your weapon into the ground, causing a gout of fire to jet into the air. The fire flows back to the ground and creeps ahead like a serpent, sweeping over your enemies and roasting them where they stand.

Strike; Ranged spell; Once per battle

Target: One nearby or far away enemy

Attack: Wisdom + Level vs. PD

Hit: 6d6 fire damage.

Natural even hit: Repeat the attack against a different nearby enemy. You can keep repeating the attack, but you can only attack each enemy once.

7th Level Maneuvers

Desert Tempest

You move in a blur, leaving scorch marks in your wake as you twirl around the battlefield, slicing into your foes as you move.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Natural even attack roll: Pop free from the target, engage a different enemy and repeat the attack. You can keep attacking enemies as long as you keep rolling even, but you can only attack each enemy once.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Champion feat: If you are willing to reduce the escalation die by 1, you can treat one odd roll as even.

Fiery Assault

Fire dances along your arms and across your weapon, lending burning energy to every attack you make.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Every hit with a melee attack you make deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage.

9th level maneuver: Increase to extra 1d10.

Champion feat: Add the extra damage to misses too.

Ring of Fire

You move in a blur, your feet wreathed in flaming energy. As you run, you leave a trail of fire behind you. You encircle a foe, and the ring of fire you leave behind bursts into an inferno that engulfs your enemy and everything else in the area.

Strike; Once per battle

Special: You must be free (not engaged) to use this maneuver.

Target: 1d3 nearby enemies in a group

Attack roll: Wisdom + Level vs. PD

Hit: 12d6 fire damage

9th level maneuver: 15d6 damage.

Miss: Half damage, and any of your allies engaged with the target takes 15 fire damage.

Salamander Charge

You spin and tumble about the battlefield, a wall of raging flame marking your steps.

Charge; Once per battle

Target (first attack): 1d3 nearby enemies; you do not engage these enemies

Attack: Wisdom + Level vs. PD

Hit: 6d6 plus 10 ongoing fire damage.

Miss: Half damage

Target (second attack): One nearby or far away enemy; engage this enemy as part of the attack

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage

Miss: Your level in damage

9th Level Maneuvers

Inferno Blast

Hot winds swirl about you, and a faint aroma of brimstone sweeps over the area. A flickering yellow aura surrounds you and grows in intensity, shedding tremendous heat and light. Creatures around you stumble back from the heat. With a howling roar, you unleash a hellish blast of fire that melts steel and warps stone.

Rising Phoenix

Effect: You can fly, although you cannot lift yourself more than 10 feet above the ground.

Epic feat: Once per round, when you make a melee attack, you can deal 3d6 fire damage to all enemies you are engaged with by roasting them in the hot air that keeps you afloat.

Wyrm's Flame

You spin your blade in a whirling arc. With each revolution, seething flames build upon its length. With a flourish, you bring your blade to a halt, point it at your foe, and unleash a roaring wall of flame.

Strike; Once per battle

Target: Make a number of attacks equal to your Dexterity or Wisdom modifier. You can attack the same enemy multiple times.

Attack: Dexterity or Wisdom + Level vs. PD

Hit: 10d6 points of fire damage

Miss: Half damage

Epic feat: Increase damage to 15d6.

Devoted Spirit

Faith, piety, and purity of body and mind are the wellsprings of a warrior’s true power. Devoted Spirit maneuvers harness a practitioner’s spiritual strength and her zealous devotion to a cause. This discipline includes energies baneful to a creature opposed to the Devoted Spirit student’s cause, abilities that can keep an adept fighting long after a more mundane warrior would fall to his enemies, and strikes infused with vengeful, fanatical power.

Associated Weapons: falchion, greatclub, longsword, and maul.

Associated Icons: The alliance of faiths that the Priestess created has many adepts of the Devoted Spirit in their ranks. Many students of the discipline are Crusaders, who can be found among the ranks of the eponymous icon, or the Gold Wyrm. Those who seek to champion a darker cause can be found among the front ranks of the Lich King's forces.

Initiate: When an enemy you are engaged with makes an attack against one of your allies, deal holy damage against that enemy equal to your Wisdom. Double at 5th level, triple at 8th.

Adventurer feat: Devoted Gift. When a maneuver grants an ally healing with the use of a recovery, you can spend the recovery instead.

Champion feat: Zealous Surge. Once per battle, reroll a save (except a disengage or death save) and take the second result. You can grant this reroll to an ally.

Epic feat: Unrelenting Spirit. Once per battle, reroll a death save. You can grant this ability to an ally.

1st Level Maneuvers

Crusader's Strike

Divine energy surrounds your weapon as you strike. This power washes over you as your weapon finds its mark, mending your wounds and giving you the strength to fight on.

Vanguard Strike

Hit: Until the start of your next turn, your allies gain a +4 bonus to melee and ranged attacks against the target.

Miss: Your level in damage.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Defensive Rebuke

You sweep your weapon in a wide, deadly arc. When your blows strike home, you send your foe tumbling back on the defensive. He must deal with you first, or leave himself open to your deadly counter. Defensive rebuke allows you to excel at controlling the battlefield around you. Your enemies must pay heed to the threat you pose. If they ignore you in favor of attacking other targets, you take advantage of their lapses with a punishing counterattack.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: Until the start of your next turn, each enemy you hit with a melee attack is marked. As long as the marked enemy is engaged with you, it provokes an attack of opportunity from you if it attacks anyone other than you. The mark ends at the start of your next turn.

Revitalizing Strike / Rallying Strike

Your weapon blazes with divine energy as you smite your enemy. The energy discharges in a great pulse, sweeping over your allies and mending their wounds.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. You or a nearby ally can heal using a recovery.

5th level maneuver: You and one nearby ally can heal using a recovery.7th level maneuver: You and all nearby allies can heal using a recovery.

Miss: One nearby ally can heal using a recovery.

Shield Block

With a heroic burst of effort, you thrust your shield between your defenseless ally and your enemy.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Special: You must wield a shield to use this maneuver.

Trigger: One ally next to you takes an attack against AC.

Effect: The ally gains a +4 bonus to AC.

Adventurer feat: You can use this maneuver even if the ally is nearby but not next to you.

Thicket of Blades

You maintain a careful guard as you search for any gaps in your opponent’s awareness. Even the slightest move provokes a stinging counter from you.

Effect: Enemies who move away from you always draw attacks of opportunity. They cannot make disengage saves to avoid the attack.

5th Level Maneuvers

Daunting Strike

You attack your foe with an overwhelming strike, hammering through his shield and armor to cleave into his flesh. This display of raw power causes him to stumble backward, fear in his eyes.

Divine Surge

Your body shakes and spasms as unfettered divine energy courses through it. This power sparks off your weapon and courses into your foe, devastating your enemy but leaving you drained.

Strike; Once per battle

Special: Before making the attack, you can choose to spend a recovery without healing. If you do so, you gain a +2 bonus to the attack roll and double the extra damage, but you also take a -2 penalty to AC and PD until the start of your next turn.

Doom Charge

You cloak yourself in a black, terrible aura of contempt and spite.

Strike; Once per battle; Charge

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and you become wreathed in unholy energy to gain resist all damage 16+ until the beginning of your next turn. If the target of the attack was good-aligned (such as the follower of a good icon), you deal 3d6 extra negative energy damage.

Miss: Your level in damage. On a natural odd miss, reroll the attack once instead and take the second result.

Radiant Charge

You gather the power of your faith and discipline, surrounding yourself in an aura of blinding glory.

Charge; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and you become wreathed in holy energy to gain resist all damage 16+ until the beginning of your next turn. If the target of the attack was evil-aligned (such as the follower of a evil icon), you deal 3d6 extra holy damage.

Miss: Your level in damage. On a natural even miss, reroll the attack once instead and take the second result.

7th Level Maneuvers

Aura of Chaos

A coruscating aura of purple energy surrounds you as chaos runs rampant in the area immediately around you. While you are in this stance, your attacks have the potential to be utterly devastating.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Your damage dice become exploding dice. When you roll the maximum number, roll again and add the result. Keep rerolling maximum results.

Aura of Perfect Order

A perfect, hazy square of golden energy surrounds you as you enter this stance. Order reigns supreme, driving away the whims of chaos.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Once per round, you can declare a d20 roll to be a natural 11 before making the roll.

Aura of Triumph

You channel the power of good through your body and soul, infusing the area around you with a soft, golden radiance. With each blow you strike against evil, you feel invigorated and driven onward.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: While you are in this stance, you and any nearby ally both heal 4 points of damage with each successful melee attack either of you makes against an evil target.

9th level maneuver: Heal 7 points of damage.

Aura of Tyranny

A sickly gray radiance surrounds you, sapping the strength of your allies and funneling it to you. While you are in this stance, you drain hit points from your allies.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: At the end of your turn, you can choose to deal 2 points of damage per escalation die to each nearby willing ally within 10 feet. For each ally who takes this damage, you heal 1 point of damage per escalation die.

9th level: Deal 3 damage per escalation die and heal 2.

Castigating Strike

With a howling battle cry, your weapon crackles with energy. As you strike your foe, that energy detonates in a burst that scythes through those who stand against your cause.

Shield Counter

As your opponent prepares to make his attack, you bash him with your shield and disrupt his attempt.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Special: You must wield a shield to use this maneuver.

Trigger: An enemy you are engaged with makes an attack.

Effect: Make the following attack against the triggering enemy.

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: Your level + Strength damage, and the target's attack misses.

Miss: --

9th Level Maneuvers

Immortal Fortitude

Despite the horrific wounds you suffer, the flash of searing spells, and the crash of a foe’s mighty attacks, you stand resolute on the field. So long as the potential for victory exists, you fight on. Death has little meaning to you in light of the cause you fight for. So long as the mission stands before you uncompleted, or a battle remains in doubt, you fight on. Stories abound of crusaders who, while in the grips of this stance, fought for days on end to hold a mountain pass against orcs, trolls, and other fiends.

Effect: You do not fall unconscious when your hit points reach zero and below, and you don't die when your hit points fall below negative half. However, while at negative hit points, you roll death saves normally and you die when you fail your third death save.

Strike of Righteous Vitality

As your enemy reels from your mighty blow, an ally nearby is simultaneously healed and cleansed of its wounds by the power of your faith.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and you or one nearby ally can use up to three recoveries.

Miss: One nearby ally can use a recovery.

Epic feat: Both you and a nearby ally can use up to three recoveries.

Diamond Mind

True quickness lies in the mind, not the body. A student of the Diamond Mind discipline seeks to hone his perceptions and discipline his thoughts so that he can act in slivers of time so narrow that others cannot even perceive them. A corollary of this speed of thought and action is the concept of the mind as the battleground. An enemy defeated in his mind must inevitably be defeated in the realm of the physical as well.

Epic feat: You can use Diamond Mind Strike maneuvers as opportunity attacks.

1st Level Maneuvers

Emerald Razor

You stare at your enemy, studying his every move. You mentally probe his defenses in search of a weakness. A lesser warrior could spent long minutes pondering this problem, but you see an opening and seize upon it in an instant. Your understanding of combat, your keenly honed mind, and your capability to read your opponents make you a deadly combatant. When you focus your mind, even the most elusive opponent becomes an easy target.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. PD

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Moment of Perfect Mind

Your mental focus and martial study have rendered your will into an unbreakable iron wall. When you feel such an effect try to cloud your mind, you can draw on untapped reserves of energy to counter the attempt.

Counter; Interrupt Action; Once per battle

Trigger: You are targeted by an attack against MD.

Effect: Make a Intelligence + level check. If the check result is higher than your MD, treat the check result as your MD against the attack.

Sapphire Nightmare Blade (Ruby / Diamond Nightmare Blade)

You study your enemy for a brief moment, watching his defensive maneuvers and making a strike timed to take advantage of a lull in his vigilance.

Melee attack; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Special: If the attack beats the target's MD + 5, use the Focused Hit entry.

Stance of Clarity

You focus your efforts on a single opponent, studying his moves and preparing an attack. Your other opponents fade from sight as your mind locks onto your target. You read your foe’s fighting stance, his favored attacks, and the methods he used to train. By combining these factors into a single analysis of his abilities, you see how to foil his attacks.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Choose one enemy when entering the stance. You gain a +2 bonus to AC against that enemy's attacks, and a -2 penalty to AC against attacks from all other enemies.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Action Before Thought

Your supreme sense of the battlefield, unmatched martial training, and simple, intuitive sense of danger allow you to act faster than the speed of thought. When a spell or other attack strikes you, you move a split second before you are even aware of the threat. Your mind is a keenly honed weapon. Other warriors rely on their physical talents. You know that a mix of mental acuity and martial training, along with a strong sword arm, is an unbeatable combination. This maneuver epitomizes your approach. Your mind, rather than your raw reflexes, dictates your defenses.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: You are targeted by an attack against PD.

Effect: Make an Intelligence + level check. If the check result is higher than your PD, treat the check result as your PD against the attack.

Insightful Strike

You study your opponent and spot a weak point in her armor. With a quick, decisive strike, you take advantage of this weakness with a devastating attack. Your mind rather than your physical power allows you to deal grievous injuries to your foes. When you attack, your training and mental focus allow you to score a telling blow.

Mind over Body

Your training and mental toughness allow you to use your focus to overcome physical threats. By focusing your mind, you ignore the effect of a deadly poison or debilitating sickness. Your diligent training and intense mental focus combine to allow you to overcome physical threats with the raw power of your mind.

Interrupt action; Once per battle

Trigger: You are targeted by an attack against PD.

Effect: Make a Intelligence + level check. If the result is higher than your PD, treat it as your PD against this attack.

Pearl of Black Doubt

With every miss, your opponents become more uncertain, their doubt growing like an irritating pearl in the mouth of a helpless oyster.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: When an opponent misses you with a melee attack, you gain a cumulative +2 bonus to your AC. The bonus is reduced to zero at the start of your next turn.

5th Level Maneuvers

Bounding Assault

You spring across the battlefield, using your focus and ability to act quickly to make an attack while moving. You combine speed and power into a deadly combination.

Charge; Once per battle

Target: One nearby or far away enemy

Attack: Strength + level +2 vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Disrupting Blow

With a combination of brute force, keen timing, and exacting aim, you force your opponent into an awkward position that ruins his next action.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. The target must immediately succeed at a saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn. The difficulty of the save is your Intelligence score.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Hearing the Air

Your perception becomes so fine that you can hear the tiniest flutter of air moving past you. Invisible foes and other hidden threats become as plain as day in the area of your heightened senses. Drawing on your combat training, sharpened senses, and capability to predict your enemy’s moves, you become a faultless sentinel on the battlefield.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You can see invisible creatures and objects. Roll twice on skill checks to notice enemies and take the better result.

Mind Strike

You strike your opponent’s head, rattling his senses and causing him to lose focus. As a warrior who fights with your mind as well as your brawn, you know that attacking a foe’s senses is just as valuable as sapping his strength. With this attack, you leave an opponent befuddled and vulnerable.

Rapid Counter

You lash out, your weapon a blur, hammering at the slightest gap that appears in your foe’s defenses.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: An enemy engages you in melee

Effect: Make a melee basic attack against the target.

7th Level Maneuvers

Avalanche of Blades

In a flashing blur of steel, you unleash a devastating volley of deadly attacks against your enemy, striking it again and again.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. Repeat the attack against the same target at a -4 penalty. You can keep repeating the attack as long as you keep hitting, but the next attack is at -8 and so on (the penalties stack).

Miss: --

Moment of Alacrity

You step into a space between heartbeats and act again while your enemies are still reacting to your last strike.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Change your position in the initiative order to the current highest +1. The next round, you act directly after the escalation die is increased by 1.

Quicksilver Motion

In the blink of an eye, you make your move. Your speed, reflexes, and boundless confidence combine to allow you to make a fast, bold move that catches your foes off guard. With a burst of energy, you move for- ward to press an attack, draw an item from your backpack, or take some other move action.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: Take a move action.

Stance of Alacrity

Your mind and body meld, granting you an edge in combat. You move slightly faster than normal due to a combination of confidence, training, and clarity of mind. This slight edge adds up with each action. Your mental swiftness translates to physical action on the battlefield. You are constantly on edge, allowing you to react to multiple attacks and threats.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Once per round, use an interrupt maneuver as a free action. That way, it does not count against your limit of one interrupt action per round.

9th Level Maneuvers

Diamond Defense

You steel yourself against an opponent’s spell, drawing on your focus and training to overcome its effect.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Triggered: You are the target of an attack against PD or MD

Effect: Gain a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier plus the escalation die to your defense against the attack.

Time Stands Still

The raindrops themselves stand still as you act at the speed of thought. You move like a blur, catching your enemies by surprise with a complex action carried out in a tiny fraction of the time normally needed to complete it.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC. You take a -2 penalty to the attack if you have already attacked this enemy with this maneuver.

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Even hit: Pop free, engage another enemy and repeat the attack.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Epic feat:This maneuver now grants two attacks, with each starting a separate attack chain. After an odd attack roll ends the first attack chain, start a second chain as a free action.

Iron Heart

Absolute mastery of the sword is the goal of the Iron Heart discipline. Through unending practice and study, the Iron Heart adept achieves superhuman skill with her weapons. Iron Heart maneuvers are demonstrations of uncanny martial skill—weaving patterns of steel that dizzy, confuse, and ultimately kill with no recourse.

Associated Icons: For followers of the Iron Heart, battle itself is the cause. They follow whoever gives them a chance to prove themselves at the front lines, which in this day and age, is often the Crusader. Others serve the Emperor in his quest to secure the borders of civilization against the encroaching chaos.

Initiate:One turn per battle, while you have at least one hit point, ignore all conditions or effects caused by enemy attacks.

Adventurer feat:When you hit with a strike maneuver, reroll damage dice that come up as 1.

Champion feat: When you miss an enemy with a strike maneuver, deal extra damage equal to your Strength modifier. Double the extra damage at 5th level, triple at 8th.

Epic feat: When you score a critical hit with a Strike maneuver, that maneuver is not expended.

1st Level Maneuvers

Punishing Stance

You chop down violently with your weapon, lending extra force to your blows, but these attacks come at a cost. You hold your weapon over your head, while your enemies slash at your undefended legs and flanks.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Deal an extra 1d6 points of damage with all melee attacks, but also take a –2 penalty to AC.

Steel Wind

You swing your weapon in a broad, deadly arc, striking two foes with a single, mighty blow. Through a combination of sheer power and unmatched talent, you make an attack that injures multiple opponents.

Steely Strike

You focus yourself for a single, accurate attack, shrugging off your opponent’s blows and ignoring the need for defense as you make your assault. The Iron Heart discipline teaches focus, allowing you to engage and defeat one opponent at a time. Your other enemies mean nothing to you as you press your attack.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level + 4 vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Effect: All opponents other than the one you attacked gain a +4 bonus on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Absolute Steel

You shift your weight to the back of your feet and hold your blade carefully forward at the ready. Your muscles twitch slightly as you prepare to dodge the next attack you face. The absolute steel stance allows you to enhance your mobility and speed. You move quickly, keep a sharp eye on your enemies, and are ready to instantly sidestep any incoming attacks.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Once per turn, you can spend a move action to gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn.

Disarming Strike

You chop at your foe’s hand, causing a grievous injury and forcing him to drop his weapon.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. If the target was wielding a weapon, it drops that weapon.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Exorcism of Steel

You attack, striking not your foe, but his weapon, sending a shockwave up his arm that leaves him unable to strike with full force.

Iron Heart Surge

By drawing on your mental strength and physical fortitude, you break free of a debilitating state that might otherwise defeat you. Your fighting spirit, dedication, and training allow you to overcome almost anything to defeat your enemies.

Counter; free action; Once per battle

Trigger: On your turn, you are affected by an effect or a condition that a save (except a death save) can end.

Effect: End the effect or the condition. Until the end of your next turn, you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls.

Special: You can use Iron Heart Surge even if you are otherwise unable to take actions, such as when you are stunned.

Wall of Blades

Your weapon sways back and forth in your hand, ready to block incoming blows. With the speed of a thunderbolt, you clash your weapon against your foe’s blade as he attempts to attack. Your weapon mastery transforms your blade into an extension of your arm, allowing you to wield it with the speed and timing needed to make a precise block.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: You are attacked with a melee or ranged attack against your AC

Effect: Make a Strength + level attack roll. Use the higher of that roll and your AC as the defense against the attack.

5th Level Maneuvers

Dancing Blade Form

You strike forward like a slithering snake, extending yourself almost beyond your ability to maintain your balance. Your foe stumbles backward, surprised that you could reach him from such a great distance.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Enemies must succeed at a hard save to disengage from you.

Dazing Strike

Through focus, raw power, and expert aim, you make a mighty attack against your foe, leaving him temporarily knocked senseless by your attack.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and the target is dazed until the end of its next turn.

7th level maneuver: The target is stunned instead.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Mithril Tornado

Your weapon becomes a blur of motion as you swing it in a tight arc over your head. Once you build up enough speed, you explode into a sweeping attack that chops into the enemies around you.

Target: Each enemy you are engaged with

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

7th level maneuver: You gain a +2 bonus to each attack roll.

Iron Heart Focus

Your training in the Iron Heart discipline grants you excellent reflexes, mental toughness, and stamina. You can draw upon your training and focus to overcome a variety of deadly effects. With a last-second burst of speed, you summon reserves of mental and physical will and throw off the effects of your enemy’s attack.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: You are hit by an attack against PD or MD.

Effect: Your enemy must reroll the attack and take the second result. Ignore critical hits on the reroll.

Lightning Recovery

Your foe twists out of the way of your initial attack, but your weapon becomes a blur as you reverse direction and strike at him again with lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, you complete your attack and resume your defensive posture.

Counter; Free action; Once per battle

Trigger: You miss with an attack

Effect: Reroll the attack with a +2 bonus to the roll.

7th Level Maneuvers

Finishing Move

Iron Heart teaches that it is best to finish off a foe with as little effort as possible, the better to save your strength for your remaining enemies. When you use this maneuver, you throw yourself on the offensive with little thought to your defenses. You deliver a devastating strike against a wounded foe, aiming to finish him off once and for all. If this attack strikes home, it might end a fight several crucial seconds early.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. Deal 4d6 points of extra damage. If the target is not at full hit points, increase the extra damage to 6d6. If the target is staggered, increase the extra damage to 10d6 instead.

Iron Heart Endurance

You push aside the pain of your injuries to fight on past mortal limits.

Boost; Quick action

Effect: Spend a recovery. If you are staggered, double the amount of hit points you heal.

Manticore Parry

You block an enemy’s attack with a lightning-quick parry, then deflect it toward a different target. Your foe can barely control its momentum as its attack now slams into an ally.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: An enemy makes a melee attack against you

Effect: Make a Strength + level attack roll vs. the target's attack roll. If your result is greater than your opponent's attack roll, you deflect the attack against another nearby enemy. Use the opponent's original attack roll against the new target.

Scything Blade

You strike at one foe with a long, high backhand cut, then make a quick turn to continue the stroke against another nearby enemy.

Boost; Free action; Once per battle

Trigger: You hit with a melee attack

Effect: Pop free and make a basic melee attack against a different nearby target.

9th Level Maneuvers

Adamantine Hurricane

In a blur of motion, you make a short, twisting leap in the air. As you sweep your weapon in a circle around you, it flashes through your enemies like a blazing comet. As you land on the ground in your fighting stance, your enemies drop to the floor around you.

Strike; Once per battle

Target: All enemies you are engaged with

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: --

Epic feat: Make two attack against each enemy instead of one.

Lightning Throw

You throw your weapon through the air, sending it flying end over end to strike with uncanny accuracy and terrible force. It leaves in its wake a trail of battered enemies. The Iron Heart tradition’s more esoteric teachings allow a student to transform any melee weapon into a thrown projectile. By focusing your concentration and attuning your senses to your weapon’s balance, you can throw almost anything.

Strike; Ranged attack; Once per battle

Target: 1d3 nearby enemies

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength + 12d6 damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Epic feat: Attack one additional enemy.

Strike of Perfect Clarity

Your supreme focus and perfect fighting form allow you to make a single, devastating attack. You execute a flawless strike to drop your foe with a single attack. The ultimate Iron Heart maneuver teaches the precise, perfect cut necessary to slay almost any creature. Only the mightiest foes can withstand this attack. Adepts of the Iron Heart tradition seek to use this attack to end fights as quickly as possible. You might open a fight with a quick flurry of attacks, but once a foe is injured, you seek to end the battle with this decisive strike.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + level + 50 damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Epic feat: Increase the extra damage to 100.

Supreme Blade Parry

You drop into a relaxed pose, allowing your defenses to flow naturally and easily. Your blade lashes out to absorb or deflect each attack you face, blunting the force of your enemies’ blows. As a student of the Iron Heart discipline, you learn that a simple flick of the wrist or turn of the blade can transform a deadly strike into a wild miss. In battle, you enter a steady rhythm that makes you frustratingly difficult to fight. You disrupt each attack with a perfectly timed counter, leaving your foes’ strikes weak and ineffectual.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You gain resist weapons 12+. You must wield a weapon and be able to make attacks (i.e. not stunned etc.) to gain this benefit.

Epic feat: Increase the resistance to 16+.

Setting Sun

Strength is an illusion. Adherents of the Setting Sun philosophy understand that no warrior can hope to be stronger, quicker, and more skillful than every one of her enemies. Therefore, this discipline includes maneuvers that use an adversary’s power and speed against him. Setting Sun maneuvers include throws and imitative strikes. The highest forms of the Setting Sun require an adept to empty herself of preconception and impulse to become a hollow vessel unhindered by want.

Associated Icons: The flavor of the Setting Sun technique points towards far away lands beyond the ancient borders of the Empire. On the other hand, the fluid grace of the style and its philosophy of guiding the enemy to use his own strength against him is close to ancient elven martial arts teachings, creating a link to the Elven Queen.

Initiate: Touch of the Sun. When making an unarmed attack, you do not suffer the standard attack penalty and your damage dice are d8.

Adventurer feat: Break the Flow. When you use a Counter maneuver against an enemy, deal damage to her equal to your Wisdom. Double at 5th level, triple at 8th.

Champion feat: Grand Reversal. Once per day, when using a counter maneuver, increase the escalation die by 1.

Epic feat: Eclipse. When you score a critical hit with a Setting Sun maneuver, the enemy is stunned until the end of its next turn.

1st Level Maneuvers

Counter Charge

With a quick sidestep, you send a charging opponent sprawling.

Counter; Interrupt Action; Once per battle

Trigger: An opponent tries to engage you in melee

Effect: Make a disengage check. If you succeed, the enemy fails to engage you. If your save fails, the enemy successfully engages you and gains a +2 bonus on its next attack against you.

Hand of Nightfall

You circle around the enemy to strike his side, and set him off-balance before his next move.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength or Wisdom + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength or Wisdom damage. Until the start of your next turn, the enemy takes a penalty to attacks against you equal to your Wisdom.

Miss: You pop free from the target.

Mighty Throw (Devastating / Soaring Throw)

You use superior leverage and your Setting Sun training to send an opponent tumbling to the ground.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength or Wisdom + Level vs. AC

Hit: UNARMED + Strength or Wisdom damage. You throw the opponent. It pops free from you and falls prone. You can throw the opponent into surrounding obstacles or danger zones, with extra effects at your DM's discretion.

Miss: You pop free from the target.

Step of the Wind

You walk across rubble and other broken terrain with deceptive wase, allowing you to take advantage of your opponents as they struggle to move at full speed.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Baffling Defense

You crouch balanced on one foot, hands held high over your head. Your foe hesitates, unsure of how to attack you in this unlikely stance.

Counter; Interrupt Action; Once per battle

Trigger: You are targeted by an attack against AC.

Effect: Make a Wisdom + level check. If the check result is higher than your AC, treat the check result as your AC against the attack.

Clever Positioning

With a swift flurry of motion, you knock you foe off balance, slip into his space, and force him into the spot you just occupied.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength or Wisdom + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength or Wisdom damage, and you switch places with the target. Both of you pop free from all combatants you are engaged with. You can now engage enemies that were behind the target without being intercepted (and vice versa).

Miss: You pop free from the target.

Feigned Opening

You show your opponent a seemingly fatal mistake in your defenses, but easily avoid the ensuing attack and simultaneously draw your foe into overextending. As she fights to regain her balance, you make a swift counterattack.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: You provoke an opportunity attack from an enemy.

Effect: After the enemy's opportunity attack is resolved, make a melee basic attack against the target. If the opportunity attack was a hit, the enemy now provokes opportunity attacks from all of your allies who are engaged with it.

Giant Killing Style

You dart between a giant’s legs, lashing at his inner ankles and other vulnerable areas while staying inside his reach where he cannot hope to parry your attacks. You slice at tendons on your foe’s feet, smash his knees, and cut into his hamstrings. The Setting Sun school teaches a fighting style that emphasizes using an opponent’s strength and momentum against him. By sizing up a larger opponent and studying his fighting stance and tendencies, you aim your strikes at vulnerable points on his lower body that he cannot defend effectively.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You gain a +2 bonus to attacks and +4 to damage against large and huge creatures.

Mirrored Pursuit (Stalking Shadow)

Your movements perfectly match your foe’s, allowing you to move as she does. Try as she might to escape, you remain at her side. Your ability to study a foe and match her motions allows you to remain within arm’s reach at all times. Your opponent cannot hope to escape you.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: An opponent attempts to move away from you

Effect: Instead of forcing a disengage save, you let the opponent move to its desired new location; you forfeit your attack of opportunity. Instead, you pop free from all other enemies you are engaged with, you move with the target and remain engaged.

Shifting Defense

You duck and move as you dodge your opponent’s attacks. Slowly but surely, each attack gives you the opportunity to move across the battlefield. Your ability to read your opponents’ moves and use their strength against them allows you to shift your position during a battle. Each failed attack gives you the split-second you need to move without drawing attacks.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: When an opponent you are engaged with misses you with an attack, you can pop free as a free action.

Strike of the Broken Shield

You study your opponent and deliver an attack precisely aimed to ruin his defenses and force him to scramble for his balance. While he struggles to ready himself, he becomes more vulnerable to your attacks.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength or Wisdom + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength or Wisdom damage, and the target is vulnerable to all attacks (save ends).

Miss: Your level in damage.

7th Level Maneuvers

Hydra Slaying Strike

You take stock of an opponent’s fighting style and make a single, carefully aimed attack that leaves the creature unable to make all of its attacks. You take careful aim at an enemy creature, striking it with the precise amount of force needed to push it off guard and leave it unable to bring all of its attacks to bear. Your opponent must spend critical seconds adjusting its guard and reevaluating its surroundings.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength or Wisdom + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength or Wisdom damage, and on its next turn, the target can only make a single attack. If its attack power allows multiple attacks (like a hydra's gnashing teeth), it can make only one of these attacks. If its attack can trigger additional attacks, those triggers are blocked. If its attack can hits multiple targets, it is limited to one.

Miss: You pop free from the target.

Scorpion Parry

You knock your opponent’s attack aside, guiding his weapon into one of his allies. Your keen eye and ability to discern a foe’s motives and intentions allow you to deflect an incoming attack into a different target.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: You are targeted by a melee attack

Effect: Make a Wisdom + level attack roll vs. the target's attack roll. If your result is higher, the attack targets a different nearby enemy instead.

9th Level Maneuvers

Fools' Strike

This maneuver pits your skill against that of your foe. A creature strikes, but you step into the attack and turn the blow straight back at it.

Shadow Hand

Never show an adversary what he expects to see. The Shadow Hand discipline emphasizes deception, misdirection, and surprise. The most effective blow is one struck against an enemy who does not even know he is in danger. Because the study of deceit as a philosophy often leads into darker practices, some Shadow Hand maneuvers employ the supernatural cold and darkness of pure shadow.

Associated Icons: The Shadow Prince is rumored to be the patron, the founder, the grand master, the ancient enemy or the most preposterous impostor if this style. What price are you willing to pay to know the truth?

Initiate: Roll twice and take the better result on skill checks to sneak around, hide and move silently.

Adventurer feat: Shadow minions. While in a Shadow Hand stance, you can summon small animated shadows to do your bidding, with an effect similar to the Arcane Mark, Mage Hand and Prestidigitation cantrips (Core Book p. 147). They can also create small zones of darkness as an opposite to the Light spell.

Champion feat: You gain a +1 bonus to hit against enemies who are dazed, stunned, weakened or hampered, ot hit by any condition from your Shadow Hand maneuvers.

1st Level Maneuvers

Child of Shadow

As you move, shadows flutter and swarm around you. Even under the bright desert sun, you are difficult to spot as long as you remain in motion.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Once per turn, you can spend a move action to gain concealment until the end of your next turn.

Concealment: All attacks against you have a 20% miss chance.

Clinging Shadow Strike (Obscuring Shadow Veil)

Your weapon transforms into solid darkness. When it strikes home, it discharges in a swirling orb of shadow that engulfs your foe’s eyes.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, plus 1d6 per level extra damage. The target must succeed at a save, or suffer from a 20% miss chance on all attacks until the end of its next turn.

5th level maneuver: Increase the miss chance to 50%.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Island of Blades

You cloak yourself in a swirling nimbus of shadow energy. These shadows spin and flow around you, preventing any creature near you from being able to anticipate your attacks. Your turn your enemies’ strengths against them, improving your combat ability as well as that of an ally. When you and a comrade move to attack an opponent, you time your attacks and position yourself to frustrate your opponent’s defenses.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: If both you and an ally are engaged to the same enemy, both of you gain a +2 bonus to melee attacks against that enemy.

Shadow Blade Technique

You weave your weapon in an elaborate pattern, creating an illusory double that glows with white energy. As you make your attack, both your true weapon and the illusion slash at your foe.

Strike; Once per battle

Special: Roll two d20 when making the attack. If you choose the higher result, resolve the attack as normal. If you choose the lower result, or if both dice are equal, deal 1d6 extra cold damage per level.

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Assassin's Stance

A shadow cast by a gap between two armored plates or a crease in a creature’s thick hide calls to your weapon, allowing you to strike with deadly accuracy against an unprepared opponent.

Stance; quick action; at-will

Effect: If you wield a small weapon and no weapon or shield in your off-hand, you can sneak attack (Core Book page 127) like a Rogue of your level.

Cloak of Deception

The shadows around you seem to surge forward and engulf you. For a brief moment, they render you invisible.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: You are invisible until you make an attack, or until the end of your next turn.

Dance of the Spider

Black, shadowy energy covers your hands and feet, allowing you to scuttle across the walls and ceiling like a lurking spider.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You can climb any surface, even walls and ceilings. You can fight while climbing without penalties.

Drain Vitality (Bloodletting Strike)

A faint nimbus of sickly gray shadow surrounds your weapon. When you attack, this shadowy aura flows into the wound you inflict, sapping your opponent’s strength, vitality, and energy.

5th Level Maneuvers

Hand of Death

You reach out and tap your foe with a single finger. Her look of puzzlement turns to fear as black energy spreads across her body, rendering her helpless.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Dexterity or Wisdom + level vs. PD

Hit: Wisdom damage and the target is stunned (save ends).

Miss: --

Step of the Dancing Moth

You focus your inner reserve of ki energy to generate flowing shadows that lift you off the ground. You walk across the roughest ground, even water, with ease.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You can walk and hover above the ground, up to a height where your feet are level with other's heads. You can ignore dangerous terrain like lava, and all skill checks to sneak around are one difficulty step easier.

7th Level Maneuvers

Death in the Dark

You catch your foe unaware, allowing you to deal a single, deadly strike that slays her instantly.

Special: The target of this attack must be dazed, weakened, hampered or stunned. In the first round of combat, you can also use it against enemies who have not acted yet.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, plus 5d6 extra damage. The target must immediately succeed at a save, or the extra damage is increased to 15d6.

Five-Shadow Creeping Ice Enervating Strike

With a single lunge, you pierce your enemy to the core. A shadow of ultimate cold falls over his heart and begins to worm through his veins to the five points of his body.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength negative energy damage.

Natural odd hit: The shadows spread out to its legs. The target is stuck (save ends).

Natural even hit: The shadows spread out to its arms. The target is weakened (save ends).

Natural 20: Both of the above effects (save ends).

Miss: Your level in damage.

Epic feat: Deal 15d6 extra damage.

One with Shadow

You fade into the raw essence of shadow, turning transparent, then insubstantial.

Counter; Interrupt; Once per battle

Trigger: You are attacked by a physical attack

Effect: Until the start of your next turn, you become incorporeal. You gain resist all 18+, and enemies gain resist 18+ against your attacks. Ignore both effects against other incorporeal beings, like ghosts. While incorporeal, you can fly and move through physical objects like walls.

Stone Dragon

The strength and endurance of the mountains epitomize the Stone Dragon discipline. The methodical and relentless application of force allows a student of this philosophy to defeat any foe. Strikes of superhuman power and manifestations of perfect, idealized force make up the Stone Dragon maneuvers.

Associated Icons: The dwarves claim that the stone dragon the name refers to is an ancient statue of victory over dragonkin in the old dwarven capital of The Hearth. Humans say its name comes from the many dragons that guard over Axis like fire-breathing gargoyles. Followers of the Three claim that the technique is taught by The Grey, an ancient brother of equal might who left the material plane in the 7th Age, but still reveals itself to the initiated. Crusaders of the Gold Wyrm claim that the true form of this discipline is properly called Golden Dragon, and that they regret ever teaching it to the dwarves.

Initiate: You gain a +1 bonus to PD.

Adventurer feat: Roll twice for saving throws against the weakened, hampered and vulnerable conditions as well as ongoing damage, and take the better result.

Champion feat: Increase your recovery dice to d10.

Epic feat: When you score a critical hit with a Stone Dragon maneuver, take a free recovery.

1st Level Maneuvers

Charging Minotaur

You charge at your foe, blasting him with such power that he stumbles back. As you roar across the battlefield, your position yourself to deliver a devastating charge attack. When you slam into an opponent, you crush him with concussive force and send him stumbling backward.

Charge; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: 1d6 per level + Strength damage, and you push the target backwards. It pops free, and it is pushed into whatever is behind it, such as another enemy, an acid pit, or a deep chasm (with an additional effect at the DM's discretion).

Miss: Your level in damage.

Mountain Hammer

You draw strength from the earth beneath your feet and transfer it into ruinous power. Your next attack drops like an avalanche upon your foe, hammering him into submission. The students of the Stone Dragon discipline learn to tap into the power of the earth, channel its endless strength, and use it to grant their attacks tremendous force. A strike delivered by a Stone Dragon adept can shatter a warrior’s shield, turn a wooden door into splinters, or slay an ogre with a single blow.

Stone Bones (Iron / Adamantine Bones)

You are an impenetrable tower of defiance on the battlefield. Attacking you is as fruitless as striking a mountain with a walking stick. The supreme focus, mental toughness, and physical durability taught by the Stone Dragon discipline culminate in this powerful combat maneuver. When you make a successful attack, your mind focuses your body into the equivalent of a living shard of rock. Even the most ferocious attacks bounce off you without harm.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and you gain resist untyped 12+ until the end of your next turn. Any attack with a damage type (cold, fire etc.) ignores this resistance, as do adamantine weapons.

Stonefoot Stance

You crouch and set your feet flat on the ground, drawing the resilience of the earth into your body. The students of the Stone Dragon discipline model their defenses after the earth itself. The wind might batter the mountain, the river might cut through the plains, but in the end the stone and rock shrug off such assaults.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You gain a +2 bonus to Strength checks and Strength-based skill checks, as well as a +2 bonus to AC against large and huge creatures.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Bonecrusher

You deliver your attack, and your enemy’s eyes jerk wide open in panic as his skeleton begins to fracture in hundreds of places.

Roots of the Mountain

You crouch and set your feet flat on the ground, rooting yourself to the spot you stand. Nothing can move you from this place. Like a living mountain, you choose your position on the battlefield and sink your roots into the earth. With your spot chosen on the field, you cannot be shifted from your position.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Reduce all damage dealt to you by 2. In addition, all attempts to move you from your position (including forcing you to pop free from engaged enemies) fail if the attack roll is a natural odd roll.

5th level maneuver: Reduce all damage by your level instead.

Stone Dragon's Fury

With a mighty war cry, you slam your weapon into a slight crack or other fault in an object. The object shudders for a moment before it collapses into broken shards. Your attunement to Stone Dragon’s earth nature allows you to spot flaws in objects with uncanny precision. You use this knowledge to your advantage, allowing you to make devastating attacks against objects and constructs.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. If the target is a construct, deal 4d6 extra damage. Against armored targets, you can forgo the hit point damage and smash the armor instead (-4 to AC until the end of combat, or DM's call).

Stone Crushing Vise

The overwhelming power behind your attack leaves your opponent unable to move. The punishing strike forces it to waste a few moments shrugging off the effects of your attack. By making a powerful, focused blow, you leave your opponent unable to move. The crushing weight of your attack forces it to waste a precious moment regaining its footing.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength plus 1d6 extra damage, and the target is stuck until the end of its next turn.

Boulder Roll

Like a boulder tumbling down a mountainside, you slam through your enemies. You are an implacable foe once you gain enough momentum. As you move across the battlefield, your foes must stand aside or be crushed beneath your feet.

Giant's Stance

Tapping into the power of the Stone Dragon, you strike with resolute, irresistible force. You learn to set the full weight of your body into each of your attacks. A warrior with less skill would lose his balance and fall to the ground when using this fighting style; only your mastery of the Stone Dragon techniques allows you to make such reckless blows without losing your footing.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Increase all damage dice of basic melee attacks and maneuvers by one step, i.e. d8 become d10 and so forth. d12 and d20 are unaffected.

Mountain Avalanche

You wade through your enemies like a stone giant rampaging through a mob of orcs. You crush them underfoot and drive them before you, leaving a trail of the dead in your wake.

Strike; Once per battle

Target: 1d3 nearby or far away enemies

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: 1d6 per level + Strength damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Champion feat: Attack a number of additional targets equal to your Dexterity modifier.

Overwhelming Mountain Strike

Your mighty strike temporarily disorients your opponent, costing him precious seconds as he shakes off the attack. You slam your foe with a mighty strike, almost knocking him from his feet and forcing him to find his footing and steady himself before he can react.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage plus 2d6 extra damage, and the target loses its move action on its next turn.

7th Level Maneuvers

Colossus Strike

Focusing your strength with a deep, rumbling shout, you execute an attack that sends your opponent flying through the air.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength plus 6d6 extra damage, and the target must succeed at a save or be hurled backwards (it pops free and falls prone).

9th level maneuver: 10d6 extra damage.

Miss: Your level in damage, and the target pops free from you.

9th Level Maneuvers

Earthstrike Quake

You swing your weapon in a wild arc, slamming it into the ground at your feet. Energy surges out from you, causing the ground to shudder with a sharp tremor.

Strike; Once per battle

Target: All nearby enemies and allies on the ground; allies with a Strength equal to yours or higher are immune.

Attack: Strength + level vs. PD

Hit: Strength damage. The target is hampered until the end of its next turn and knocked prone.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Epic feat: On an even roll against an ally, treat the attack as a miss.

Mountain Tombstone Strike

You slam into your foe, turning bones into dust and muscle into bloody pulp. Your foe’s body is left a crippled, twisted mockery.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage and 25 ongoing damage. Treat the saves against the ongoing damage as last gap saves. If the target fails a third save, it is helpless.

Miss: 10 ongoing damage.

Epic feat: Deal 50 ongoing damage.

Strength of Stone

You enter an impenetrable defensive stance, making it almost impossible for an attack to strike you in a vulnerable area.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You are immune to critical hits.

Tiger Claw

Consciousness is the enemy of instinct. The Tiger Claw discipline teaches that martial superiority can be achieved by discarding the veneer of civilization, along with the higher thoughts that fetter a warrior’s actions. Tiger Claw maneuvers emulate the strikes, leaps, and pounces of animals. When infused with ki power, some Tiger Claw maneuvers also allow a martial adept to take on animalistic characteristics, speed, and bloodlust.

Associated Icons: Disciples of the technique are split in a blood feud between the orcs, hobgoblins, gnolls and other "monstrous" races who follow the Orc Lord, and the "humanoid" races like humans and elves who study it under the High Druid. Both factions attack each other on sight, but they are harmless against a third faction of horned, clawed and branded Demontouched serving the Diabolist. By exposing themselves willingly to the effects of hellholes, they turn their bodies into mutated nightmares and drive their minds to insanity.

Initiate:When making a skill check to jump, roll twice and take the better result.

Champion feat: While in a Tiger Claw stance, Reroll natural 2 on attack rolls. When two-weapon fighting, reroll both 2 and 3.

Epic feat: When you miss with all attacks from a Tiger Claw Strike, you don't expend the maneuver.

1st Level Maneuvers

Blood in the Water

While you are in this stance, you whip yourself into a terrible rage. The smell of blood drives you into a fury. As you slash into your foe, each fresh wound you inflict spurs you onward.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: When you score a critical hit against an opponent, you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls; the bonuses from subsequent crits stack. The effect ends at the end of the battle, or when you change stances.

Hunter's Sense

You sniff at the air like a hunting animal. After you focus your mind, an array of scents that normally eludes your awareness become clear to you. On a fundamental level, you begin to think more like a wild beast and less like a civilized creature. Your enemies are prey to be hunted down and slain. Your allies are packmates. This shift in view spreads to your physical senses.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: You gain a temporary 5 point background to represent your newly gained animal instincts, especially scent. You can use it to track prey as a pack animal would.

Rabid Wolf Strike (Bear Strike)

You foam at the mouth and scream in rage as you make a powerful attack against your enemy. You set aside all thoughts of defense as you lunge forward.

Strike; Once per battle

Special: You take a -4 penalty to AC until the start of your next turn.

Hamstrung: The target takes a -4 penalty to AC and PD, and it must succeed at a hard save to disengage from enemies.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Prey on the Weak

You scythe through weaker foes like a mighty predator turned loose among a herd of prey.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Once per round, when an enemy you are engaged with is reduced to zero hit points or below, regardless of the cause, pop free from all enemies and make a basic melee attack against a nearby enemy.

9th Level Maneuvers

Feral Death Blow

With a primal howl, you leap into the air and land on your opponent, hacking and clawing at his neck. You leap upon your opponent, rending and tearing with your weapons in an attempt to kill him with a brutally overwhelming assault. You grab onto your foe as you slash and hack at his neck, face, and other vulnerable areas.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. PD

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and the target takes 25 ongoing damage. Treat the saves against the ongoing damage as last gap saves (Core Book p.200). After the third failed save, the target is dead.

Miss: 25 damage.

Epic feat: Increase the ongoing damage to 50.

Girallon Windmill Flesh Rip

Windmilling your arms in a furious blur, you strike your perplexed enemy from two directions at once, rending his flesh with each strike.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Special: You must be wielding two weapons to use this maneuver.

Effect: On each hit with a melee attack this turn, deal 3d6 extra damage.

Epic feat: Deal 4d6 extra damage.

White Raven

No warrior fights in isolation. Cooperation, teamwork, and leadership can give two warriors the strength of five, and five warriors the strength of twenty. The student of the White Raven masters maneuvers that combine the strengths of two or more allies against a common foe. Shouts and battlecries infused with ki are the signature maneuvers of the White Raven discipline.

Associated Icons: Masters of the discipline teach their students that the White Raven was an icon of a past age, a brilliant strategist and protector of the people. What they don't agree on is her ultimate fate. One school insists that she was betrayed and poisoned by the Diabolist, and left a vacuum that is now filled by the Crusader. Some even say that only her heart was poisoned, and that she is still herself under the Crusader's mask. Another tradition has her as the Queen of the first Witch King, who held off his enemies so that he could return as the Lich King, ultimately sacrificing herself for him. This old lore still shapes the allegiances of individual adepts in the 13th Age.

Initiate: Nearby allies gain a +1 bonus to saves, including disengage saves and death saves.

Adventurer feat: Heightened Morale. When a nearby ally succeeds at a saving throw, they also gain temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom. Double at 5th level, triple at 8th.

Champion feat: War Leader. While in a White Raven stance, gain a +1 bonus to attacks with charge maneuvers.

Epic feat: Master Tactician. When you score a critical hit with a White Raven maneuver, gain a different White Raven maneuver that you have not readied at the start of your next turn.

1st Level Maneuvers

Bolstering Voice

Your clarion voice strengthens the will of your comrades. You shout encouragement to your allies, disparage your foes, and lend much-needed support to raise your allies’ spirits. By drawing on your example, your allies harden their will to fight and battle on despite your enemies’ attempts to turn them aside. So long as you remain on the field of battle, your allies are strengthened against attacks and effects that seek to subvert their willpower. The discipline of the White Raven stresses that an army is effective only when its members are motivated to fight. In the face of a daunting enemy or unexpected hardship, the most skilled warrior is worthless if he lacks strength of will.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: Nearby allies gain a +2 bonus to MD, and they are immune to fear.

Douse the Flames

You strike your enemy with a resounding blow, capturing his attention. As he turns to look, you let loose with a string of oaths, challenges, and taunts that force him to focus his attention on you. As a White Raven adept, you are as much a tactician as you are a war leader. You learn to create openings for your allies to maximize the teamwork and esprit de corps that you foster. You know that for a group to succeed, it must work together, and that individual glory must be set aside so that the group can achieve victory.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage and the target cannot make opportunity attacks until the start of your next turn.

Miss: Your level in damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to opportunity attacks until the start of its next turn.

Leading the Attack

You boldly strike at your enemy. As you attack, you shout a war cry to demonstrate that victory is at hand. This attack inspires nearby allies to join the fray with renewed vigor. When you make an attack, your allies take heart in your example and fight with renewed purpose. By stoking the fire of battle in your allies’ hearts, you inspire them to greater heroics.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage. Until the start of your next turn, your allies gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls against the target.

Miss: Until the start of your next turn, your allies gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against the target.

Leading the Charge

You fire the confidence and martial spirit of your allies, giving them the energy and bravery needed to make a devastating charge against your enemies. The White Raven discipline teaches that tactics, leadership, and planning can overcome an opponent’s superior individual abilities. This stance embodies that teaching, allowing you to spur your allies on to greater feats of martial skill.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: When a nearby ally attacks an enemy for the first time, he or she adds your level to the damage on hit or miss.

Tactical Strike

Your skill at arms and overwhelming power force your opponent to falter at a fatal moment. As the foe attempts to recover from your devastating strike, your allies rush in to finish what you have started. You make a mighty attack that knocks your opponent into a defenseless position, granting your allies a moment to move into a better position.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength plus 1d6 damage per level, and all allies engaged with the target can pop free from it.

Miss: One ally can pop free from the target.

3rd Level Maneuvers

Battle Leader's Charge (War Leader's Charge)

You lead from the front, charging your enemies so that your allies can follow in your wake. You summon a great fury within your lungs, releasing it with a titanic shout as you charge forward. Your reckless move startles your foes and puts greater force behind your attack.The White Raven discipline teaches that he who seizes the initiative also seizes victory.

Tactics of the Wolf

You shout orders that help coordinate your allies’ efforts. They harass their enemies, shield each other from attacks, and otherwise maximize the support they lend to each other. Like a wolf pack, your allies fight together to devastating effect.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: When an ally hits an enemy you are engaged with, using a melee attack, he deals extra damage equal to your level.

White Raven Tactics

You can inspire your allies to astounding feats of martial prowess. With a few short orders, you cajole them into seizing the initiative and driving back the enemy.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: One nearby ally can take a standard action.

5th Level Maneuver

Covering Strike

You make a ferocious series of attacks at your enemies, forcing them on the defensive and buying your allies critical seconds needed to slip past them unharmed. By drawing on your combat experience and knowledge of how a warrior must carry herself in battle, you make an attack that disrupts your opponents and keeps them from taking advantage of your allies’ lapses.

Boost; Quick action; Once per battle

Effect: Until the end of your next turn, when you hit an enemy with a melee attack, that enemy cannot make opportunity attacks until the escalation die is 6+.

Flanking Maneuver (Swarming Assault)

You inspire your allies a war cry and attack an opponent with brutal force, ruining his defenses. As you strike, you call out sharp commands to your allies, spurring them to action and allowing them to take advantage of the opening.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength damage, and an ally who is engaged with the same target can make a melee attack against it.

7th level maneuver: All allies engaged with the same target can make a melee attack against it.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Order Forged from Chaos

You bark a series of stern orders, directing your comrades to shift formation. The power of your presence is such that they obey without consciously thinking about it. You excel at using your commanding presence to direct your allies on the battlefield. After a few short, barked orders from you, your allies switch positions and assume a tactically advantageous position.

Boost; Move action; Once per battle

Effect: All nearby allies can take a move action.

Press the Advantage

You shift across the battlefield, timing your movements precisely to avoid any attacks from your foes.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: When you engage an enemy, other enemies cannot intercept you.

White Raven Strike

Your eye for tactics allows you to notice an enemy’s weak points and attack them with a mighty blow. The White Raven discipline focuses on tactics, teamwork, and the ability to make an attack that improves your allies’ abilities. This strike ruins a foe’s defenses.

Strike; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength plus 4d6 extra damage, and the target takes a -4 penalty to defenses until the start of your next turn.

7th Level Maneuver

Clarion Call

As you defeat an opponent, you shout a battle cry that inspires one of your allies to renew his efforts. You are an inspiring figure on the battlefield. Your personal victories are shared by your allies, allowing them to draw courage and vigor from your actions.

Free action; Once per battle

Trigger: You reduce an enemy below zero hit points.

Effect: Nearby allies can either make one melee attack or take a single move action.

9th Level Maneuver

Swarm Tactics

Your quick directions enable close teamwork between yourself and an ally. At your urging, your allies seize the initiative and work in close coordination with you to defeat an enemy.

Stance; Quick action; at-will

Effect: If the escalation die is 4 or lower, all nearby allies treat the escalation die as 5 for attack rolls against enemies you are engaged with. If the escalation die is 5 or higher, this stance has no effect.

Epic feat: If the escalation die is 5 or higher, nearby allies get a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

War Master's Charge

With a great battle cry, you lead your allies in a devastating charge. Fired by your commanding presence and deftly led by your supreme grasp of tactics, you and your allies form an unstoppable wedge. You are an inspiring figure on the battlefield, allowing you to lead others on attacks that would strike fear and doubt into even the stoutest warrior’s heart. Under your leadership, the group becomes much more than the sum of its parts.

Melee attack; Once per battle; Charge

Attack: Strength + level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength plus 25 extra damage. Nearby allies can pop free from enemies they are engaged with and charge your target as a free action. On a hit, they also deal 25 extra damage.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Epic feat: If the target is hit by at least two charge attacks, it is stunned until the end of its next turn.

White Raven Hammer

You slam your opponent with a mighty attack to disrupt his senses and leave him unable to defend himself while your allies close to finish him off.

Melee attack; Once per battle

Attack: Strength + Level vs. AC

Hit: WEAPON + Strength plus 6d6 extra damage, and you stun the enemy until the end of its next turn.

Miss: Your level in damage.

Prestige Talents

The following talents are based on prestige classes in the Tome of Battle. You can still choose them at first level if you like.

Eternal Blade

The eternal blades were once champions of Corellon Larethian. They served as guardians of the people, defenders of the faith, and wardens of the ancient elf forests. The blade guides, the spirits of ancient eternal blades who serve as advisors and teachers to the current generation of warriors, kept the blades on the path of righteousness, preserved their teachings across each generation, and helped guide them in protecting elfkind. For thousands of years, the eternal blades beat back goblin invasions, would-be conquerors, and other threats. From the lone blade who slew an ogre that threatened a village, to the mighty general who commanded hundreds of these warriors in battle, the eternal blades fought evil wherever and whenever it threatened their kin.

As an eternal blade, you fight and train with the assistance of a blade guide, the incorporeal spirit of an ancient member of this order. The guide is similar to a familiar in that it confers benefits to you when you are in close proximity to it. A blade guide also increases your flexibility, since it can teach you new maneuvers and lend you the wisdom of its combat experience.

You gain one bonus maneuver from one of your discipline talents. You can wield the Eternal Blade in combat, as a true magic item of your tier that deals force damage.

Adventurer feat: Give the blade a weapon enchantment of your choice.

Champion feat: When you wield the blade, the first time you miss with an attack in combat, you deal twice your Intelligence in extra damage. Triple at 8th level.

Epic feat: Once per battle, your blade can strike out on its own to make a melee basic attack as a quick action.

Jade Phoenix Mage

Skilled in both arcane magic and martial maneuvers, a Jade Phoenix Mage is reborn in life after life to maintain an unending vigil against evil. Long ago, a fellowship of swordsages known as the Masters of the Jade Phoenix took up the study of arcane magic in search of a new martial discipline. They discovered that the mental austerity of action each swordsage had cultivated in his martial studies opened the door to a powerful and unique form of arcane mastery. Properly applied, the stances and maneuvers of a martial discipline provided the mage with exceptional power and control in his arcane spellcasting—and by channeling the arcane energy of his spells into his martial maneuvers, he achieved supernatural perfection in his chosen disciplines.

Choose Bard, Sorcerer or Wizard. You gain a bonus spell of your chosen class, at your class level, and you can gain one additional spell by switching out one maneuver gained from level progression.

Adventurer feat: Mystic Phoenix Stance. While in a sword disciple stance, you can apply any of its benefits to melee attacks to spells you cast.

Champion feat: Quickening Strike. Once per day, after hitting an enemy with a maneuver, you can cast a spell of your chosen class as a quick action.

Epic feat: Empowering Strike. Once per day, after hitting an enemy with a maneuver, you can Gather Power like a Sorcerer as a quick action.

Master of Nine

Some savants of the Nine Disciplines believe that none of the paths are complete, true disciplines in and of themselves. They believe that the nine disciplines are perhaps more appropriately termed the Nine Steps, each a single portion of a true, whole Way. These few masters strive to learn the secrets of each path, and in so doing become the masters of nine, using a martial style that combines all of the techniques of the Temple of Nine Swords. Such martial sages are fluid and unpredictable martial artists, capable of switching between styles and techniques to suit each situation.

You have access to all maneuvers from any discipline, as long as you have the required class level. You gain one maneuver from a discipline you have not chosen as a talent as a bonus maneuver.

Adventurer feat: When using the Rally action to regain maneuvers, you can switch out one maneuver for one from a different discipline.

Champion feat: If you use a strike maneuver of a different discipline than the last maneuver you used, you gain a +2 bonus to the critical threat range.

Epic feat: You can ready an additional maneuver if, including the one you are about to ready, you have readied one from each of the nine disciplines.

Ruby Knight

The Ruby Knights are a crusader order. Inscrutable and mysterious, these secretive warriors serve as the militant arm of their faith. They protect the temples, guard important leaders of the church, and help to train novice clergy. When called upon, they also serve as spies and even assassins. Within the Ruby Knight order, the knights are responsible for undertaking duties of the last variety. Every so often leaders of the knightly order or high priests of the faith come to him with a special assignment that requires stealth and intimidation. A Ruby Knight relies on his spiritual strength and skill in martial disciplines rarely mastered by crusaders to capture or dispatch marked enemies of the faith.

You gain a Cleric spell as a bonus spell, and you can choose one additional Cleric spell by switching out a maneuver gained from level progression.

Adventurer feat: Choose one Cleric domain. You can use its invocation once per day. If the invocation applies to Cleric spells, you also gain the benefit to your maneuvers.

Champion feat: Once per battle, add your Wisdom modifier to attack and damage with a martial maneuver.

Epic feat: When you cast a daily Cleric spell, regain a martial maneuver that you have used.

Shadow Sun Ninja

A Shadow Sun ninja is a martial artist who studies the balance between good and evil, light and dark. Founded by a reformed half-fiend, this fighting school teaches its students to find power in balance. A Shadow Sun ninja uses dark energies to drain his foe’s life, but then turns and uses the power of light to lend that stolen strength to an ally. A Shadow Sun ninja is a study in contrasts. She knows that evil lurks in the hearts of all living creatures. Even the purest of the pure suffer temptation. By exploring her inner demons, bringing them into the light, and accepting them as part of her soul, she achieves a deeper understanding of herself and the strength within her. A Shadow Sun ninja would argue that denying, rather than accepting, one’s base impulses would be the same as refusing to use one’s left arm.

Choose either a Rogue power or a Monk form as bonus power. You can choose additional powers of the chosen class by switching out maneuvers you gained from level progression.

If you take a Rogue momentum power, you must keep track of momentum like a Rogue would. With a Monk form, you gain its Opening, Flow and Finishing Attack, which you must use in order like a monk. With your monk form, you deal jab / punch / kick damage as a monk (13TW p.67).

Adventurer feat: Touch of the Shadow Sun. Once per battle, as a quick action, make a Dexterity or Wisdom melee attack vs. PD. If you hit, spend a recovery. In addition to healing hit points, deal negative energy damage equal to the healed amount.

Champion feat: Light within Darkness. Once per battle, as a move action, make a hide skill check against the highest MD of your nearby enemies. On a success, remove yourself from the map until the start of your next turn. You gain a +4 bonus on your first attack the next turn, and on a hit the target is dazed (save ends) by a blinding light.

Epic feat: Void of the Shadow Sun. Once per battle, when you enter a sword disciple stance, grant yourself a +2 bonus to AC. If an enemy hits you while in the stance, end it as an interrupt and deal 8d6 cold damage to the enemy.

Champion talents

Brilliant Maneuver

Special: You must be at least 5th level to take this talent.

You have transcended the student stage where you execute every maneuver in the way it was taught. As a master, you combine elements and improvise to gain an advantage based on the opponent you are fighting and the environment.

Once per battle, when you execute a maneuver, use an additional action on it, either a quick or a move action, to represent the battlecry, running start and flashy movements you add to it. Add a secondary effect to your maneuver, which you create in collaboration with your GM. This could be anything from a leap across a chasm or an arc of flame to hold of some mooks to taunting the enemy into a risky counterattack. Be creative and cinematic, this is about creating a memorable fight rather than a quick, clean finish.

At the start of your next turn after using brilliant maneuver, ready a different maneuver from the same discipline that you haven't readied already.

Discipline Secrets

Special: You must be at least 5th level to take this talent.

You focus your training to study and unlock the secret teachings of one discipline. Choose a discipline that you have taken as an initiate or adept talent. You gain a 5 point background to represent your insight. You gain another bonus maneuver of that discipline, and you can ready maneuvers of that discipline twice instead of just once.

This talent has several feats. You can take more than one of each type, and no champion feat is required for the epics.

Champion feat: Immediate Stance. When you roll initiative, you can enter a stance of your chosen discipline as a free action.

Epic feat: Discipline Focus. Choose one strike of the discipline, you gain a +1 bonus to attacks with it.

Epic feat: Defensive Stance. Choose one stance of the discipline, you gain a +1 bonus to AC while in it.

Epic feat: Counter Mastery. Choose one counter maneuver of the discipline. Using it does not count against your limit of one interrupt per round.

Epic feat: Extended Boost. Choose one boost of the discipline. Its duration is extended until the end of your next turn, instead of the same turn.

Multiclass Disciple of the Nine Swords

The Sword Disciple lends itself well to multiclass. You have a slightly smaller selection of maneuvers, balanced by the additional flexibility of a second class.

Level progression: You are one level behind in your number of readied maneuvers, and you get the normal bonus talents at 5th and 8th level at 6th and 9th instead.

Key ability modifier: Use the Fighter entry. Fighter/Sword Disciple and Paladin/Disciple use Str/Wis.

Weapon damage penalty: You count as a skillful warrior.

Appendix

Notes

Prone

Prone (condition): You take a -2 penalty to attack rolls and a -2 penalty to defenses. You do not gain a saving throw against this condition; instead, you can take a move action to end it.

Note: Storywise, the target is knocked off its feet and thrown to the floor. The move action is used to stand up. Creatures that don't have feet, or any sort of discernible anatomy like a gelatinous cube, are squished out of shape or otherwise sent off-balance, and still require a move action to regain their posture.

Since there is no prone condition in the 13th Core Book, I am creating one here to convert the nine maneuvers for which it is relevant.

Like the 4E version, this one is a -2 penalty, not -4 like in 3E. I did not include the AC bonus against ranged attacks, because I want to differentiate between "helpless like a bug on his back" and "sniper on the ground to make a smaller target". If a PC wants to get down on the floor on purpose, feel free to grant him or her a +2 bonus to defenses against ranged attacks, but that's different from the prone condition above.

Alignment

The Devoted Spirit Talent keys effects off alignment for a lot of maneuvers, usually requiring that the target is of the opposite alignment. 13th Age has optional alignment rules but doesn't have any powers that require using them. You have several options:

(A) Ignore it. The fact that the PC is attacking the target is a clear sign that it is an enemy, and that is good enough.

(B) Have the DM set an alignment when relevant. If the PC wants to use a power that requires the enemy to be of a certain alignment to work, the DM will give a yes/no answer whether it works.

(C) Use the icons for reference. While enemies do not have an explicit alignment, they are usually associated with one of the Icons, and these are placed on a Good / Evil axis in the Core Book. So depending where the PC stands on the Good / Evil axis and what his own Icon relationships are, certain opponents will be of an opposing morality.

* Most 9th level powers now require an epic feat to unlock their full power.

Conversion notes:

* I decided to merge the three classes (Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade) because their basic structure was very similar. The nine disciplines are quite distinct, with each aiming for a very different archetype and flavor, while the classes seem bland and a chopped together.

* The most significant mechanic difference was how they regain expended maneuvers, but with very little in-game explanation. Why is regaining all expended maneuvers a quick action for Warblades to regain all, while Swordsages need a full round to regain one? Why the quirky random draw for Crusaders? It feels like different design options were experimented with for playtesting and then the draft was rushed out the door without unifying them.

* ToB makes good use out of many 3E rules concepts, but many of them don't have a direct equivalent in 13th Age:

* Damage scaling is another big issue. In 3E, the damage of a single melee attack doesn't go up that much, without magic item support. Instead, there is the full attack with multiple attacks. In 13th Age, the damage of the basic attack scales, and quite quickly. It's less necessary to give single-attack maneuvers a bonus to damage.